A POCKET GUIDE TO PUBLIC SPEAKING 5TH EDITION Chapter 23 Principles of Persuasive Speaking

Persuasive Speaking The goal is to influence audience members’ Attitudes Beliefs Values Actions

Focus on Motivation Use information from audience analysis. Make the message personally relevant to listeners. Demonstrate the benefit to the audience. Establish your credibility. Set modest goals.

Focus on Motivation (cont.) Demonstrate how attitudes can prevent satisfaction. Encourage receptivity to change. Greater success comes when the audience holds a similar position.

Classical Persuasive Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Persuasion happens through three persuasive appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos. Logos (appeal to reason) Critical when asking listeners to Reach conclusions regarding complicated issues; Take a specific action.

Classical Persuasive Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos (cont.) Pathos (appeal to emotion) Methods of appealing to pathos Using vivid imagery Telling compelling stories Using repetition and parallelism Base emotional appeals on sound reasoning. Combine ethos and logos for best effect.

Classical Persuasive Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos (cont.) Ethos (speaker credibility) Speaker’s moral character and trustworthiness Audience must view speaker as credible. Increases their level of receptivity

Contemporary Persuasive Appeals: Needs and Motivations Appeal to what motivates audience members. Encourage receptivity to change. Recognize that motives arise from needs.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs FIGURE 23.1

Appeal to Audience Members’ Needs Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Lower levels must be met first. Higher levels are considered unimportant until then.

Contemporary Persuasive Appeals: Behavior Outcomes Appeal to what motivates audience members. Encourage receptivity to change. Recognize that motives arise from behavior consequences and possible intrinsic rewards.

Persuading Listeners to Change Behavior Determines listeners’ attitudes towards the behavior you want them to change Identifies listeners’ beliefs about the consequences of their behavior Investigates what listeners believe their loved ones think about the behavior in question Demonstrates positive outcomes of changing behaviors

Appealing to Reasons for Behaviors Expectancy-Outcome Values Theory: Your audience will evaluate the potential costs and benefits associated with taking the action you request. Identify the expected outcomes and use them to appeal to your audience.

Encourage Mental Engagement Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion Central processing Listeners Are motivated and thinking critically; Seriously consider what your message means to them; Are most likely to act on your message.

Encourage Mental Engagement (cont.) Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion (cont.) Peripheral processing Listeners pay little attention; consider your message Irrelevant; Too complex to follow; Just plain unimportant. Listeners might support you for superficial reasons.

Encourage Mental Engagement (cont.) Link arguments to listeners’ practical concerns. Use the appropriate level of understanding. Demonstrate common bonds. Consider your audience’s cultural orientation.

Reaching Your Target Audience Consider what your target audience already knows and feels about the topic. A refutative pattern works best for hostile or conflicted audiences. Hostile audiences strongly disagree with you. Sympathetic audiences who already agree with you are better reached by narratives. Topical arrangement of main points are needed to reach apathetic or uninformed audiences.